Five Times Blaine Was Wrapped Around Kurt's Finger
by fleurdelisee
Summary: Maybe Blaine can't say no to Kurt, but Kurt can't, either.


_Not canon at all. It was written during the hiatus, you know, when we still thought Dalton was a boarding school and didn't know we would have to wait until _freaking_ March for them to be canon._

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><p><strong>1.<strong>  
>Two hours. That's all it took. Two hours, one latte and one hot chocolate and he was under his spell. It started as a usual day; never-ending lectures, a lunch time spent trying to prevent anyone from bursting into flames – which was harder than it seems with the people Blaine hung out with – and some more lectures. Blaine was heading for The Warblers' daily performance in the seniors common when he stopped him and well, that was a nice turn to his day.<p>

It was not love at first sight or anything. Well, more like crush at first sight. Blaine tried not to let it show that he was smitten the second he saw him standing there on those steps. Kurt was _exactly_his type. He was taller, had delicate features and was so gorgeous his breath caught in his throat. Blaine never believed guys like him actually existed, but there he was, standing in front of him and asking him what was going on like it was completely normal to be this beautiful and to live outside of Blaine's head.

Putting on his best charming smile, he made sure to claim Kurt before any other guys could spot him. It had happened before but this time, he had been faster than them to spot the new kid. He was not letting go, and too bad if Kurt thought it was weird that he held his hand a minute after meeting him. He was not usually bold, but something about Kurt awakened things in him.

It turned out that Kurt was absolutely not dating material. He was broken and scared and _not even a Dalton student_and so Blaine changed his plans and settled for friendship. At least Kurt turned out to be gay – even if he never really had any doubts about it; Blaine could lie and say he was straight but Kurt was doomed to be outed by his wood nymph looks – so Blaine could still be very patient and wait.

It did not quite explain why he drove two hours on a school day – skipping an oral presentation in French and a Math quiz – the second Kurt called, saying he needed his help. It did not explain why he stood up to a bully, a guy thrice his size, for Kurt, when he could not even do it for himself. Blaine was not sure anything could explain this behaviour. He was _so_not the altruistic type, usually, but something about Kurt brought that in him.

Staying at McKinley for lunch had not been the best of ideas because, hey, the bully ate there too, but at least he could keep an eye on Kurt. It was a welcome bonus that his uniform kind of intimidated most of the kids, which gave them privacy to talk. That, or Kurt was not popular and was used to eating alone, although Blaine did not want to believe that.

"Oh, that's my friend Mercedes over there," Kurt commented. He waved at a girl who looked at Blaine, raised her eyebrows and then pointedly looked at Kurt.

Blaine watched the silent conversation continuing for a minute and then Mercedes was gone and Kurt was looking at him, a small smile on his face. Blaine smiled back before looking down at his sandwich.

"What?" Kurt asked softly.

"What, what?" Blaine replied, trying not to look too fondly at Kurt, which was harder than it seemed.

"Why are you smiling like this?"

"You smiled first, I only returned it."

"I did?" Kurt asked, smiling even wider and putting his elbow up on the table to cover his mouth with his hand. "I didn't even notice."

Blaine returned the smile and laughed softly. The more he talked with Kurt, the more infatuated he was. Everything about him was charming; his half-smiles, his expressive eyebrows, the spark in his eyes, his nervous energy, his voice, his face, his hands, his hair, his fashion sense, _everything_. Blaine could not stop staring, even when he tried.

Besides his soon-to-be-epic crush on Kurt, though, he quickly found out how much they had in common. Kurt was opening up to him like, Blaine suspected, he had never done to anyone. If he did not end up dating him, at least he would have found the best friend he could ever dream of.

When Kurt had to go to his afternoon classes, he walked Blaine to the main entrance, their hands constantly brushing, and hugged him, a thing Blaine had a feeling he never did. At least, not to a boy in the middle of a crowded hallway where there was a guy out to make his life a living hell. Blaine watched him walk away, realising that he would find it hard to say no to Kurt in the future.

**2.**  
>Blaine never thought he would end up hanging out in Lima every other day. First of all, he never thought there was anything to do in that town. Second, there actually was nothing to do there and it was almost two hours away from Dalton.<p>

Yet he was there almost every night. It started slowly, Kurt shyly offering that they hung out together one day, and then the next thing he knew he was developing a technique to study for his various tests while driving down the highway he now knew by heart.

That particular day, the students of Dalton had been given the afternoon free to revise for their upcoming midterms. Instead of staying behind like he should have, Blaine decided to go surprise Kurt at the end of his day. It was too perfect; the one time Dalton was actually kind of cool was also a day Kurt did not have glee rehearsal.

"Are you seriously going to Lima again?" Wes asked tiredly. For a moment, Blaine felt like he was in Groundhog Day; Wes or David asked him the same question every time and every time he gave the same answer:

"Kurt needs me."

Even more puzzling for the teenagers was that it was a completely platonic friendship.

"Are you _sure_you don't lie to us and go make out with him for hours?" Nathan asked, staring at Blaine with wide, enquiring eyes.

"I think I would remember if it happened, Nathan," Blaine replied, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.

Five minutes later, he was in his car and on the phone through Bluetooth and speaker mode with the friends he had left in the seniors commons. They were quizzing him on his upcoming History midterm because he had no other time to revise for it.

It was worth the headaches it always gave him every time he met up with Kurt. Kurt had this way of looking at him like he did not quite believe he was real, like somehow he expected to wake up and realise their friendship was all a dream.

Blaine's plan almost met a dramatic end when he realised he could not walk into a school he did not attend without a student from there while wearing the uniform from another one. He considered sitting in his car and waiting for Kurt to get out and hope he would notice him – he was _not_waiting outside in the cold, no matter how much he loved Kurt.

"Go get a visiting pass from the main office. I do that all the time when I visit my girlfriend," David said and wait, great, Blaine was still on the phone with them and he had thought out loud. Sleep would be a good thing, whenever he found the time to actually rest for more than a few hours.

Blaine hung up and then left his car in the parking lot, heading straight for the main office. He had to make up some bullshit reason for why he needed to roam the hallways of McKinley High ten minutes before the students were let out but once again, his uniform or his very convincing innocent smile was enough to let him in.

Finding Kurt's locker was easy. It started smelling like his perfume and hairspray as soon as he got near where he remembered it to be. Smiling to himself at how endearing it was that Kurt's locker smelled like him, and leaned against it and waited. He still had five minutes before the bell would ring and then probably another few until Kurt arrived.

As he had sort of predicted, all eyes were on him as the hallway filled with students. He did stand out quite a bit in his private school uniform and gelled hair. He was starting to feel really self-conscious when he heard his name being called from farther down the hallway.

Kurt almost ran up to him and pulled him into a tight hug, which took Blaine so much by surprise that he yelped a little. Kurt seemed to realise how uncharacteristic of him it was to do it because when he took a step back and let go of Blaine, he was blushing.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked as he looked through his locker.

"Dalton let us have our afternoon free so I thought I'd surprise you," Blaine answered, trying to look cool and casual as Kurt gave him the largest smile he had ever seen on the boy's face. "What do you want to do?"

Kurt shrugged and pulled his heavy bag up on his shoulder. Blaine thought for a second before taking the bag and winking at Kurt. Kurt blushed again but did not protest, instead knotting his hands together in front of him as they walked towards the exit.

"I'm sure they all think you're my boyfriend," Kurt whispered once they were outside. So he, too, had noticed the glances and stares they got.

"So what? I wouldn't mind." Blaine stared at Kurt with wide, panicked eyes. Kurt was beet red. "No, I meant that I—it's not like I will freak out because people think I'm dating a guy, you know? I don't mean—it's not—not that I don't—do you get it?" Kurt laughed and nodded, bumping his shoulder against Blaine's. "You're my best friend," Blaine added, glancing at Kurt to see his smile fading a little.

"You're mine, too. I didn't know people like you actually existed."

"I know, I'm totally awesome," Blaine bragged because if he did not turn this into a joke, he would pull Kurt to his car and ruin everything he had been working on so hard.

"Pff, that's what you think," Kurt joked back, pushing him playfully. Blaine was very glad that the atmosphere was light again.

They ended up going to the movies, the only one playing at a convenient time being a horror flick. Kurt did not protest but Blaine saw him pale as he read the synopsis on his iPhone. Twenty minutes into it, Kurt was already gripping his hand tightly, enough to cut the circulation in his fingers. Once the action really started, Blaine tried not to die when Kurt pressed himself against him and hid his face in his shoulder.

"It's okay, Kurt, it's only a movie," he whispered before pressing a kiss on the top of Kurt's head.

He did not know why he did that. It had seemed like the most natural thing to do but now that it was done, he felt like it was such a bad idea. Kurt did not say anything, did not even react to it; he was too busy being terrified by the movie.

"Never. Again," Kurt stated seriously as they left the theatre. "Ever. I hate horror movies."

"Yeah, I don't think my hand will survive another one with you," Blaine replied, massaging his painful hand. His fingers pricked from how the blood was rushing back into them.

"Oh, sorry. You should have told me I was gripping it too hard."

"You nearly jumped out of your seat when I asked you for the popcorn. I didn't want to scare you even more." And he totally enjoyed holding Kurt's hand. It was so soft and fitted so perfectly in his.

"Anyway, the point is, I don't see what you enjoy in those movies. There's nothing enjoyable in being terrified."

"We're not all scaredy-cats."

"_Scaredy-cat_? How old are you? Even my grandparents don't use that expression anymore."

Blaine grinned at Kurt, feeling his heart tighten at how much he liked him.

Leaving Lima was always a tough thing to do. The relaxed and happy expression always left Kurt's face when that time came. Blaine, too, felt kind of crushed when he had to leave Kurt. He had so much fun with him. He felt so understood and himself with the boy and, while his friends were awesome and completely cool with who he was, Kurt _knew_what it was like to be an out of the closet gay teenager.

"Call me when you get back to Dalton. It's late, I don't want anything to happen to you," Kurt asked, resting against the door of Blaine's car, talking to him through the open window.

"As always," Blaine replied, a smile on his face.

Kurt touched his shoulder and looked like he was about to do something but he withdrew his hand and stepped back. He waved good bye as Blaine rolled up his window and drove away. Three minutes later, he was on the phone, asking David to quiz him on the Secession War.

**3.**  
>"It won't work."<p>

"Your lack of faith is slightly insulting," Blaine replied.

"But it won't work. Forget it. Charleston won't have it. You _know_how he is about room attribution. I had to sell my soul and sign up as his personal slave to be allowed to get a new room when mine was flooded and started moulding," Wes said for the hundredth time, trying to keep up with Blaine's stride.

"Yes, but we're talking about you. The only thing that saves you from being expelled daily is your 4.0 GPA. May I remind you that you're the one who flooded your room?"

"It was David's idea!"

Blaine shook his head, quickening his pace to try to get rid of his friends. He was not particularly eager to get to the Headmaster's office, but he had to at least try. For Kurt.

"You're kidding, right? Nice try, Wes, but I clearly remember you saying that having a swing in your room would be awesome."

"Yes, but you offered we hang it from the heating pipe."

Blaine sighed, having heard this fight several times in the past months. He sometimes wished he had walked past Wes' room _before_the flood so he could have witnessed who had the idea. Sadly, he only found out about it when he walked down the hallway and noticed the darkened carpet in front of the room. The rest was history, the detentions the two of them had had included.

"You did not protest. At least the heating wasn't on. Imagine if we had had scalding hot water falling on us."

Blaine stopped walking, causing his two friends to bump into him.

"You guys realise that you're an old married couple, right? Now, _please_, let me go see Charleston before I get cold feet and run away screaming like a girl."

"You don't need to be scared of Charleston to scream like a girl," Wes commented with a smirk, causing Blaine to smack him upside the head.

"Hey, no need to hit him. He's right," David protested after asking Wes if he was alright.

"Old. Married. Couple," Blaine repeated with emphasis before taking a deep breath and opening the heavy wooden doors leading to the Headmaster's secretary's office.

He told her he would like to talk to the Headmaster and she told him to take a seat while she went to see if he was available. Blaine looked around him, feeling weirdly nostalgic. The last time he had been there, he was sitting in between his parents, bruised and terrified, signing transfer paperwork.

After twenty minutes, the secretary motioned to him to go into the office. He thanked her politely, straightened his tie and brushed away the wrinkles of his pants before walking in.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Anderson?" Mr. Charleston straightened papers and took off his glasses to look at Blaine. Blaine saw a folder with his name on it on the man's desk as he leaned in to shake his hand and he gulped.

"As you know, there's a new student transferring tomorrow," Blaine began, subtly wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

"The speed at which news go around this school continues to amaze me, even after thirty years."

"Yes," Blaine said, giving the man an awkward half-smile. "I wanted to offer to take him as a roommate. I have been rooming alone ever since my previous roommate was expelled, so there's a bed available in my room."

"This is not how rooming works, Mr. Anderson. You know it yourself, you transferred mid-year, too. We assign rooms randomly and only allow exceptions in very particular situations."

Blaine looked at his hands for a moment, weighing whether to use that argument or not. He knew he would be walking on thin ice if he decided to. All he wanted at the moment was to whine and say something along the lines of 'yeah but Kurt is a particular situation and he needs me and I need to protect him forever because I have failed him in the past'.

"I know he is transferring because of bullying at his previous school," Blaine began carefully. "I did for the same reason. I believe I could help him adjust since I have lived the same situation than him."

"Do you know him? No one knows he's transferring because of bullying." Mr. Charleston asked warily. "We made sure to keep it hushed."

"I—I know him, yes. We're friends. I don't—"

"That will be all, Mr. Anderson. I appreciate your concern for Mr. Hummel's transfer but there is nothing I can do about your request. There is no favouritism at Dalton. He will be assigned a room through our usual method. If you're lucky, your name will come up. Thank you."

Blaine thanked him, shook his hand and left the office. Wes and David were waiting by the door and they gave him a sympathetic smile.

"At least you tried, huh? Let's go kick some freshmen ass at table football. It'll cheer you up," David said, wrapping his arm around Blaine's shoulders and pulling him forward.

They played until Alex and Nathan ran in the room, large grins on their faces.

"The new kid's here. Let's go find out who he's rooming with."

Most of the Warblers ran out after the two boys. It was a tradition to go make fun of unfortunate new students who ended up with terrible roommates. Most of those who were alone were that way because no one could stand them. Either it was the filth of their room or their intolerable quirks, they were better off left alone. Blaine really hoped Kurt ended up with Benjamin, the quiet junior or with Jonathan, a Warbler. Other than that, he was going to be miserable.

Blaine stayed behind, not particularly eager to go see who would make Kurt's life miserable. Wes and David stayed with him by solidarity and he really appreciated it. He would find out pretty soon the next morning, anyway. They only left the common room when the night guardian kicked them out, threatening to lock them outside for the night.

"I mean, what if he ends up with Keith? He's in the rugby team. He can't room with a jock, that would kill him!" Blaine said worriedly as they made their way to their floor.

"I know, Blaine, you said it four times already. There's nothing you can do about it, man. If he's that miserable, he'll ask for a transfer and that will be it. People switch rooms all the time when they first arrive. He'll be fine, stop worrying so much," Wes replied, trying to cheer him up. "Why don't you text him and ask where he is? I'm sure he would love to see you."

"Yeah, I will." Blaine stopped in front of his door and shrugged. "Good night."

His friends returned the wish and walked away. Blaine sighed and fetched his key out of his trousers' pocket, frowning when he realised the door was unlocked. He probably was too nervous when he left for Charleston's office to remember to lock it.

The room was dark and the moonlight was the only thing that helped Blaine get in without killing himself. He was more than due to clean his room. He heard a faint noise on his right and he jumped, reaching for the light switch as he scanned the darkness to see what had made that noise. He was going to murder someone if it was a mouse again.

"Kurt?" he let out once light filled the room, staring at the boy looking out the window, his knees hugged close to his chest. He was leaning against the headboard of his bed, his head resting against one of the two tall windows; one for each bed.

"Blaine?" Kurt's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his skull. "This is your room?"

"Y-yeah. It's yours?" Kurt nodded, a smile growing on his face. "Awesome!" Blaine replied, trying to stay cool even if inside, he was jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl in Disney World. "Why were you sitting there in the dark?"

"I was looking outside, at the campus. I could not see with the lights on. I didn't feel like unpacking, yet." His voice sounded distant and tired and it broke Blaine's heart a little. He also thought he saw a tear rolling down his cheek. He was so glad he would be able to keep an eye on Kurt, now.

Blaine shut the light, sat down on the bed – Kurt's bed, oh my god – next to him and rested his head on Kurt's shoulder, rubbing his cheek against his vest a few times and wrapping his arm around his waist. Kurt took a deep breath and sighed.

"It will get better, trust me. I'm there, okay?"

"I know," Kurt whispered, taking his hand. "I know."

**4.**  
>Blaine had never been more terrified to face his friends. Well, it was not his friends that he was going to face; it was The Warblers' council and the entire school knew what that meant. Usually death.<p>

Blaine stayed behind after the rehearsal, waiting for everyone but Wes, David and Andrew to leave. He tried to look busy but ended up rearranging cushions and straightening the curtains, feeling extremely foolish. If the last Warblers did not leave soon, the only thing he had left to do was go fiddler with the plant pots and he really hoped it would not come to this.

"Blaine?" Wes asked him when they were alone. "I take it you want to talk to us?"

Blaine looked away from the chairs he was putting back around the various tables and nodded.

"We were expecting this moment," Andrew said, nodding his head to tell Blaine to sit on the couch in front of them.

"So you know what I want to ask you?" Blaine sat down in the comfortable leather couch, feeling his three friends' eyes on him.

"An audition for Kurt," Andrew replied.

"Yes."

"No," David answered quickly. "This is not how we work."

"I know. I remember." Of course he remembered. It had him wondering whether he was joining a glee club or the Freemasons for weeks when he transferred.

"So you know he won't get in unless we invite him. I'm sorry, Blaine. That's how The Warblers have always worked, since 1891. There's nothing we can do."

"You could invite him," Blaine told them, trying not to sound too condescending because, seriously, it was their only excuse?

"Based on what? We haven't heard him sing and neither have you. Don't forget this," Andrew said sternly.

"He was in his old school's glee club. He has to be at least half good."

"Yeah, I think you mentioned it once or three hundred times in the past month," Wes almost snapped, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry, Blaine. We can't ignore the rules. As soon as we find out if he's any good, we'll be more than happy to offer him an audition. For now, we can't."

Blaine spent his evening emailing Mercedes, asking her if she had any videos of Kurt performing to send him. The only thing she could tell him was that he would have to go see the two people he wished he would never have to meet after Kurt described them to him: Coach Sylvester and Rachel Berry.

He began with Rachel, figuring that a teenage girl would be easier to deal with. He found her email address by stealing Kurt's phone while he was in the shower and immediately sent her a message.

Her reply, while polite, was pretty straightforward: as much as she cared for Kurt's well-being and happiness, there was no way she was going to provide the enemy with videos of New Directions' performances so close to Sectionals, or ever, actually, when she thought about it, and to please never contact her again or she would have to report his miserable attempt at cheating. He stared at the email in disbelief for a long time, itching to reply and remind her that he met Kurt after they had sent him to spy on The Warblers, but then he remembered that it was actually a very good thing. Kurt was right, though; she truly was something.

So his only other option was Sue Sylvester. Getting in touch with her would be trickier. He knew that emails were not a good idea and he was terrified of using the phone to talk to her. That meant he would have to find a way to go to Lima without Kurt knowing. It had to be during school hours, too, which meant he would have to skip class again, which meant he would have to ask Nathan to cover for him again.

"Blaine, hello. He's here now. You don't need to go to Lima to make out with him anymore," the boy said when Blaine went to see him in his dorm.

"I need to go see the cheerleading coach. Don't ask why, just tell everyone I'm bed-ridden with a bad case of, I don't know, just come up with something, and that I'll be back in the afternoon after sleeping it off." Blaine paused in the doorway before leaving. "Nothing sexually transmissible or deathly. And Kurt and I are not dating."

The next morning, Blaine was on the road as early as he could. He had to leave Dalton early enough so people would not see him outside of his dorm when he was supposed to be sick in it. He dressed up in normal clothes, definitely not wanting to get noticed. The only thing he forgot was that one of the people who had to believe the lie happened to share a dorm room with him.

_"Where the _fuck_ are you?"_ Kurt asked as soon as Blaine answered his phone, halfway to Lima already. _"Nathan says you're bed ridden with herpes but your bed is empty and I _seriously_ hope you don't have herpes."_

"Fine," Blaine sighed, putting on the best acting he could come up with at eight in the morning. "I'm actually visiting my grandmother. She's really ill and I don't like talking about it because people get all sympathetic and caring and bleh, it sucks. Can you keep it a secret?"

_"Oh, yeah, sure, of course. I'm sorry, Blaine. Is it really that bad? You should have asked me, I would have covered for you, you're my best friend."_He sounded concerned and that made Blaine love him even more, if that was even possible.

"I know, next time I will, I promise. Can you make sure no one actually believes Nathan? Just tell people I have a cold. Please?"

_"Of course, anything. Will you be back this afternoon?"_

"I should be, if everything goes well."

Blaine could feel the guilt of lying to Kurt gnawing at his insides. He absolutely hated it but it was for the greater good – oh my god, he was turning into Grindelwald – and Kurt would thank him in the end. It was a tiny little lie and everything would go just fine.

He was going to die. He seriously was going to. As soon as he stepped into that woman's office, he knew he would never leave it alive. Hitchcock would find her too psychotic to make a movie about her. He was absolutely convinced that one of the trophies behind her was for 'Best Serial Killer'.

"So, Frodo, what can I do for you? I don't remember accidently shoving you into a locker before so I assume you're from another school. Wait, don't tell me. You're here to sabotage Will Schuester's pathetic group of misfits? You look like you're into musicals. Speaking of Schuester, you look like the result of his affair with a garden gnome. Stop staring at me and talk before I get bored and you lose my attention."

Blaine cleared his throat and straightened in his chair, wondering why in the name of sanity people let that women near students.

"Hi, my name's Blaine and—"

"Get to the point, I'm already thinking about what I will eat for lunch."

"I wanted to know if you had any videos of Kurt Hummel singing. It's to get him an audition for our glee club and—"

"Kurt Hummel? Who's that, a German crooner? Try YouTube and leave my office."

"He was a student here. He transferred not long ago," he added quickly, sitting on the edge of his chair. When she kept staring at him, he tried to describe him. "Slightly taller than me, light brown hair, elven features, high-pitched voice, obnoxious fashion sense." He sighed when she still did not react. "Gay as the Fourth of July?"

"Porcelain! Yes, I have videos of him singing." The way she said it told Blaine he might have to sell his soul to get them. "Here's the deal: I will give them to you if you promise he will get in and that you will beat Schuester and his little gang of anti-social freaks of nature. I don't care what you have to do to beat them, but do it."

Blaine swallowed back his faint 'we'll try' and instead came up with a convincing positive answer. She told him to wait and came back a few minutes later with a DVD before basically kicking him out of her office.

Being scarred for life by a cheerleading coach became worth it the second Blaine sat in Wes' room with him, David and Andrew and they watched the DVD. They were all pretty much sold after 4 Minutes but when the fourteen minutes long Céline Dion medley started, they stopped breathing and stared at the laptop screen in awe.

"Someone needs to get a mop and a bucket, Blaine is ruining the carpet with his drool," Wes commented with a smirk when the videos ended. "You can tell him to show up for rehearsal tomorrow."

**5.**  
>"Have you seen Kurt?" Blaine asked as he joined his friends for dinner.<p>

"You lost your boyfriend?" Nathan asked, quickly ducking before Blaine could throw a box of juice at him.

"After the herpes rumour, I'm not talking to you anymore. Did I tell you the nurse sat me down in her office and asked to examine me? I will _never_forgive you. Seriously, though, I can't find him and he won't answer his phone or my texts."

"Co-dependent," Wes muttered under his breath, leaning away from Blaine when he tried to punch his arm.

"He said he would be in the library all night," Wyatt told him.

"Why?" Blaine was really confused. Yes, Kurt liked to revise but he was not _that_bad, was he?

"French Lit test tomorrow afternoon and he's not even done reading the book. He came here an hour ago to grab something to eat and then left. I was the only one here so he told me to tell you."

"Thanks. Who told him the trick to stay in there all night, though? It's like Dalton's best kept secret."

"I did." Nathan waved his hand. "I'm the one who pierced the mystery, after all. It was all Dead Poets Society and digging through the library for books and stuff."

"Don't be stupid. Your dad told you how," Alex snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Party pooper," Nathan muttered, leaving the table. Every boy ignored him, used by now to his oddity.

Blaine ate quickly then gathered his stuff and was about to leave when David stopped him.

"Where are you going? We have a Big Bang Theory marathon tonight, don't forget."

Blaine winced and let his shoulders slump.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I can't let him in there alone, can I? Besides, I need to revise, too. With all those trips to Lima, my grades have plummeted. We'll do it tomorrow night, I promise."

David shrugged and Blaine started walking away, stopping once more when Wes called his name.

"You do know you and Kurt are the only people not aware that you're dating, right?"

Blaine flipped him off over his shoulder before heading for the library. One good thing about Dalton's library was the study rooms. They were an even quieter alternative to the main library but students were allowed to talk when in them. It was perfect for group projects or cramming all night.

"I never believed anyone when they said the library was opened all night but they were right," Kurt said when Blaine walked in and sat in front of him at the table.

"Yeah but you have to know how to sneak in without being seen by the librarian and you better be very quiet until it closes, at nine. After that, no one will know. It's pretty awesome when in your situation."

Kurt moaned and dropped his head on the table.

"Don't remind me. I have to finish this thing and then go over my notes and come up with an analysis plan for the book before one tomorrow. I will _die_."

"No, you won't. You can't die, how would I survive without you?" Blaine sensed the awkwardness of what he had said settle between them and saw Kurt's unsure smile. "So, what's that book?" he asked him, trying to defuse the tension.

"Notre-Dame-de-Paris by Victor Hugo. Very interesting but it takes forever to read it."

"Isn't that like, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame? I have the movie on my laptop. You could watch that instead."

"Yeah, of course," Kurt said dryly. "Except that Frollo wants to have sex with Esmeralda and he's actually an ass to Quasimodo. So's Phoebus, who almost rapes her while cheating on his fiancée, Fleur-de-Lys. And Esmeralda is tortured and hanged for being a bohemian and Quasimodo pushed Frollo off the roof of the cathedral before going to Esmeralda's tomb and letting himself die by her side. And the cool guy named Clopin? He marries Esmeralda to avoid getting killed and he and his friends are mostly all killed anyway by melted lead Quasimodo throws down the cathedral to stop them from entering it. So yes, the Disney movie is really close to the original work."

"But the gargoyles are there, right?" Blaine asked, feigning to have his heart broken and pouting.

Kurt raised his eyebrow and stared at him pointedly for a moment. He then rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book. Blaine watched him for a moment, wanting so much to just reach forward and hold his hand but he was not allowed to. He had chosen friendship and he had to stick with it.

Blaine managed to study quietly until eleven o'clock. After that, he began getting restless and extremely tired at the same time and he was not quite sure how that worked. At least now they were clear to make noise again. The half-blind, half-deaf librarian was gone and they had the entire wing entirely to themselves. He was definitely thankful that the motion detectors never actually worked anywhere on campus. The popular theory was that they were there only to keep students in their dorms.

"Hey, do you want to stop reading and go over your notes for a while? I need a break," he asked Kurt, who yawned and nodded, putting the novel down. He rubbed his eyes and rested his head in his hand before looking at Blaine and that was probably the most adorable thing Blaine had ever seen, _ever_.

"Yeah, just. Those are a friend's notes. He photocopied them to me since I missed two months of class. Ask me stuff." Blaine started quizzing Kurt on French poets and novelists and seriously, he was wondering why Kurt took that class. He asked him. "It's the only one that had room left when I transferred and I was good enough at French to keep up. Just keep asking me questions or else I will fall asleep."

They continued until twenty past midnight, until Kurt was yawning so hard he could hardly answer Blaine's questions anymore.

"I've gone through all your notes. You should be fine for that part, you almost got everything right," Blaine told him, smiling and patting his arm, his hand lingering on Kurt's warm skin. He had took off his blazer, rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and Blaine had to be careful not to stare for too long because rolled-up sleeves were kind of a _thing_for him.

"I'll go back to reading, now," Kurt said darkly, taking the novel off the table like it might bite him and opening it with a sigh.

Even after Kurt had broken the eye contact they had maintained for a moment, Blaine kept looking at him, suddenly not caring that Kurt might notice. Lately, it was so hard to keep it on friend level with him and Blaine was growing tired of fighting against every fibre of his body yearning to grab Kurt and smooch him.

Tearing his eyes from Kurt's perfect face, he sighed. "Why? You already know the ending." The look Kurt gave him shut him up and he went back to revising Geography.

Three more hours passed before Kurt loudly put down the book on the table, waking up Blaine. He had fallen asleep somewhere around one.

"You're done?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and straightening up in his chair.

"Yeah. Now I need to work on the plan." Kurt sounded extremely tired, even more than that one time Blaine had kept him awake until the crack of dawn for a Harry Potter marathon.

"No," Blaine said before closing all of Kurt's notebooks. "Take a break. We need to walk a bit to stay awake. Well, I know I do. I can barely stay awake."

"I noticed. I think your drool soaked through your entire textbook."

Blaine playfully glared at him before getting up.

"Let's go walk a bit around the shelves before coming back here. Libraries at night are spooky, I love it."

"Oh, that's awesome, you know how much I love horror movies!" Kurt said with mock-enthusiasm, nonetheless following Blaine outside the room. The boy took his arm and he grinned, thankful for the pitch darkness.

Blaine kept trying to scare Kurt until they reached the main doors. The silence was thick and heavy and they could barely see ahead of them as they turned around to head back for the study room.  
>"Dalton has a lot of ghost stories. The legend is that—"<p>

"Stop. Stop. Please, Blaine, stop this right now," Kurt pleaded, tightening his grip on Blaine's arm as he steered them deeper and deeper into the library.

"The legend is that a student was found dead in his room, almost a century ago now. Everything was fine until one night in the seventies, a group of students snuck in the library just like we did and had an Ouija session. They invoked him, but they did not know his name so they used his room number to get to him, room 25D—" Blaine was making it up as he went, not even sure what pushed him to scare Kurt that much. Maybe he enjoyed feeling the boy pressed up against him, literally trying to crawl into his skin as Blaine stopped taking random turns between the shelves and started heading to a specific section.

"Blaine, oh my god, this is our room. You have got to be kidding me."

"Why do you think I did not have a roommate? No one wants this room. Didn't you notice the change in temperature?" The truth was that Blaine's roommate had been expelled for nearly burning down the Science wing and that the heating was terrible in every room of that floor.

Kurt froze on the spot and turned a horrified face to Blaine.

"You are kidding me, right? Tell me you are fucking kidding me Blaine Anderson or I will kill you. You said it was the heating!"

"That's what the faculty tells us," Blaine continued, still pulling Kurt to the section he had in mind. "So they invoked him and he came, but then he refused to leave and he started causing trouble, following the students around at all times. It nearly drove them insane. Finally, they graduated and eventually, they forgot about it. Well, until their sons were of age to join this school and it started all over again, the haunting, but with their sons. My dad was one of them, Kurt, and I can feel him around me sometimes, like—right now." With those last words, Blaine made a final turn and put the both of them in front of the tall mirror at the back of the library. Moonlight was conveniently casting enough light on the aisle to allow them to see the mirror and their reflection in it.

Kurt's shriek probably had the potential to shatter glass. Blaine stumbled as Kurt pushed him in front of himself, hiding behind his back and shaking like a dead leaf.

"Kurt, hey, relax, I made it all up. It's a mirror, look!" Blaine tried to get Kurt to stop clinging to his back and step aside to look at the mirror, but he was shaking too much to do anything but hold on tight to the fabric of Blaine's shirt.

Blaine had not expected the sob that escaped Kurt's mouth. In an instant, he felt so guilty that he could have thrown up.

"I fucking hate you," Kurt said through the tears he was trying to swallow down once Blaine managed to get the boy to face him. "You _know_I hate being scared, how could you do this?" His voice was higher than usual and every watery hiccup broke Blaine's heart a little more.

"I'm so sorry," he almost whined, wrapping his arms tightly around Kurt. "I don't know what took me, I'm such an idiot."

"Yeah, you are," Kurt said, hugging him as tightly and hiding his face in his neck. His tears were cold against Blaine's skin.

They did not move for the longest time, pressed together until there was not an atom of oxygen between their bodies. It was the longest hug they had even exchanged and definitely the most intense. Maybe Blaine was reading too much into it but he felt like a lot was being said between the two of them, things they never would have dared say out loud.

"You should have seen your face," Blaine whispered with a chuckle when the urge to kiss Kurt became too big to suppress.

Kurt looked like he was about to hit him when he let go of him so Blaine sprinted away, a childish grin on his face. He heard Kurt's running steps behind him and so he made sure not to run in a straight line, getting deeper and deeper into the maze-like library. Still, he could hear Kurt after him, which surprised him. He had expected the boy to get scared and retreat to the brightly lighted study room.

Out of breath, he stopped and tried to breathe as quietly as possible. His pants were as loud as screams in the silent wing. He heard Kurt's footsteps slowing down when his stopped and he waited for the moment Kurt would find him and beat him up for scaring him to death and then making fun of him. The footsteps were getting nearer with every passing second and then finally, he could make out Kurt's silhouette in front of him, the darkness denser where he stood.

Kurt, too, saw him because he stalked forward and roughly pushed Blaine against a bookshelf, the hard edges digging in his back. The smell of dust and old paper was almost overwhelming.

"You are such an idiot," he snapped in a whisper, pinning Blaine to the bookshelf. "You know how much I hate being scared and you go and do it. I really hate it." The last part almost sounded like a whine.

"I'm sorry, Kurt, I did it for fun, not to traumatise you." It was very hard to think straight when Kurt stood so close to him. Blaine could feel his slightly panting breath on his face.

Blaine had half a second to brace himself before Kurt started hitting him, punching and pushing at him. Blaine thought he was serious until he heard a giggle escape the boy's lips. When he began trying to bring Blaine down, attempting to trip him by hooking his leg behind his knees, Blaine stopped passively letting him attack and retaliated, pinning him to the opposite shelf.

"I really, really hate that Karofsky guy," Blaine whispered, stroking Kurt's cheek with the tip of his fingers. The darkness seemed to put courage in him.

"Why?" Kurt asked in a breathless whisper.

"Because if he had not bullied and scarred you, I would have made a move weeks ago." His answer was barely audible but Kurt's sharp intake of breath told Blaine he had heard it. "Sometimes I think I still should have done it because I'm scared I ruined it all by acting detached and distant and that you'll find another guy who's taller and cooler than me but I didn't—" Blaine was leaning closer with every word until his lips brushed against Kurt's as he spoke.

The pair gasped softly before Blaine closed the distance and fully kissed Kurt. Kurt's hands gripped his shirt at his hips and he breathed out through his nose, the air tickling Blaine's cheek. When Blaine pulled away, Kurt leaned forward, trying to follow his lips.

"You should've," Kurt whispered, smoothing down the collar of Blaine's shirt a few times before hesitantly leaning down to kiss Blaine.

Blaine was about to lick Kurt's bottom lip in hopes of deepening the kiss when a creaking noise made Kurt jump and cling to Blaine for dear life.

"Let's go back to the study room," Blaine whispered, pecking his lips before wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist and pulling him along.

"It explains why you were wrapped around my finger," Kurt mused as they walked through the library.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you kept travelling between Westerville and Lima nearly every day to see me, you contacted Rachel and Coach Sylvester to win me an audition with The Warblers and now you're staying up all night while I cram for a test when you could be sleeping." Blaine opened his mouth to reply but he had nothing to say that would not make him sound like he was making excuses up. "I think it's adorable," Kurt added, leaning into him.

They ended up sneaking out of the library at four in the morning, barely breathing by fear of getting caught as they crossed the entire school to get to their dorm room. Once there, Kurt let out a sigh of relief before yawning loudly. Blaine fell asleep as soon as his uniform was discarded on a chair and his head touched his pillow, only to wake up what felt like a minute later to Kurt climbing in bed next to him. When questioned, he smacked Blaine and blamed his bogus ghost story before curling into him.

**(1.)**  
>Kurt was getting his ass kicked at Monopoly by his grandmother. As shameful as it was, he was too happy to finally spend some time with his family to mind, even if Finn really enjoyed laughing at him as he gave her all the money he had left.<p>

He was about to protest for good figure when Carole hushed them, asking if they, too, could hear music. Kurt squinted as he focused on the silence, finally hearing what she was talking about. He heard '_you make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream, the way you turn me on, I can't—_' before it stopped. It was Blaine's ringtone.

"Shoot, that was my phone," Kurt said, jumping to his feet.

"Hey, no, wait, come back, you'll check it later, we're playing a game right now!" His father told him, motioning for him to sit down.

"No but—that's Blaine's ringtone," he replied hesitantly, glancing at the living room, where he had left his phone.

"Who's Blaine?" his grandfather asked with a smirk. He exchanged a glance with Burt.

"My boyfriend," Kurt said after thinking about his answer for a moment. A goofy grin appeared on his face as the word left his lips. It still felt all sorts of wonderful to say it. "Can I call him back? Usually he texts me, calling means something might be up."

"Do it quickly. Don't think you can get away from the game."

Kurt rushed out of the room, grabbing his phone and unlocking it quickly. He had received two texts and a missed phone call from Blaine. He called him back, sitting on the armrest of the couch as he waited for Blaine to answer.

"Hey, hi, sorry, I missed your call and your texts."

_"Hi,"_Blaine answered. His tone of voice dissolved Kurt's smile.

"Are you okay?"

_"Not really, no. I miss you."_

"I miss you, too. We should do something soon." When Blaine only hummed in response, Kurt got up and bit the nail of his thumb, suddenly not caring about ruining it. "Blaine, what's wrong?"

_"I'm alone."_

"Blaine," Kurt started, having been warned by Wes and David that sometimes Blaine got into 'emo' moods that were quite impressive and hard to deal with.

_"Not in the metaphorical sense that I think no one loves me, I'm actually alone. My parents went on holiday. I've been home alone since I left Dalton. I needed to talk to someone."_

"They _what_? But—Christmas!"

_"They left presents under the tree for me but you know—I don't know. My sister was supposed to come down from college but when she found out our parents were not there, she went to her boyfriend's. Oh, forget it, I'm being stupid. How was your Christmas?"_

"Do you want me to come over?" Kurt asked, completely ignoring Blaine's question. He was already crossing the living room to go ask his father.

_"Wha—no! No, Kurt, seriously. Stay with your family, I know your grandparents are staying with you until New Year. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Seriously."_

"Shut up, okay? I'll call you back in a moment."

_"Kurt, come on—"_Kurt hung up before Blaine could protest again.

Kurt sat down at the table, putting his phone in front of him and staring at it for a moment.

"Is everything alright?" Carole asked with concern.

"I need to go see him. Now," Kurt said in a low voice, knowing that this idea would not please his parents.

"What do you mean you _need_to? You can live without him for a few days, don't be ridiculous," Burt said rather roughly, just as Kurt had expected.

"Dad," he began, looking at his father. "His parents are on holiday. He's spent Christmas alone. I can't—I have to be there for him. He's done so much for me with—you know. Before I transferred."

Burt's eyes softened and he breathed out but said nothing.

"Why doesn't he come here instead?" Finn offered tentatively.

"Where would we put him? I mean, there is no more room in this house for anyone to sleep. We'd have to—I would have to share my bed with him."

"No," Burt said strongly. "That won't happen under my roof. You're seventeen. We have no room here for him. Kurt, your place is here, with your family. I'm sorry."

"Dad. He put his term in jeopardy to drive all the way to Lima almost every day when I needed him. He's done so much for me and it's the first time he asks me anything. Please."

He and Carole had a silent conversation for a moment during which she put her hand on Burt's arm. Burt sighed, shrugging. "Oh, just go. What can I say, I owe this kid your safety."

Kurt sprung to his feet and rounded the table to hug his father tightly, thanking him repeatedly and kissing the top of his head. Taking his phone with him downstairs, he called Blaine as he started packing enough clothes for a few days. Blaine continued to tell him to forget it and stay with his family but Kurt ignored him. When he stopped protesting, Kurt asked for his address and hung up, taking out his laptop to quickly check the directions to get there.

Going back upstairs, he hugged his grandparents and Carole goodbye before meeting with his father in the hall.

"Be careful. There's a storm forecasted. Don't go and kill yourself. Call me when you get there."

"It'll be a while, he lives three hours away from here," Kurt told him as he put on his coat and wrapped a scarf around his neck.

"Just be careful." His father patted his cheek before Kurt walked outside.

Five hours later, Kurt was still in his car, squinting at the road ahead of him, trying to see something. For the past two hours, he had been driving slowly, too scared to skid and die. He nearly missed his exit for Blaine's town and turned at the last second, feeling his car slipping a bit. Twenty more minutes and he was parking his car in the Andersons' driveway, resting his head against the steering wheel for a moment, taking a deep breath. His hands were painful from gripping it tightly for hours and he was starving. He had planned to arrive on time for dinner but that was two hours ago.

The house looked empty; no lights were on. He rang anyway, assuming Blaine was in his room and had left the rest of the house in the dark. Blaine pulled him in as soon as he opened the front door, hugging him tightly.

"You're so stupid, you could have killed yourself with this blizzard," he said once he let go of Kurt. Blaine was wearing sweatpants and an old tee, his hair wild and curly, like Kurt loved them. He had his glasses on. It looked like he had been spending the last days sleeping off his boredom.

"I see you appreciate my presence," Kurt teased him, shrugging out of his coat and grinning at Blaine. As soon as he had hung it next to Blaine's, the boy pulled him into a tight hug again, burying his face in his neck, making Kurt stumble a little under the strength of his embrace. "Blaine, I need to call my dad," Kurt said after a moment, stroking Blaine's hair until he let go of him.

"Okay. I'll go make you something to eat, you must be starving."

Kurt tried to ignore the sad sight that greeted him when he walked into the living room. The Christmas tree was not plugged in, the gifts still wrapped even though it was the 27th. When Kurt hung up – it took him a good ten minutes to convince his father he was still alive and was fine – Blaine entered the room with a delicious looking sandwich on a plate.

"Let's go to my room, this place is depressing," he muttered, taking Kurt's hand and pulling him along.

Blaine's room was the only lighted place in the house and it definitely looked like he had lived there since he came back from Dalton. They sat on Blaine's bed and he turned on the television before curling into Kurt, holding his hand. Kurt was used to Blaine being touchy-feely, but this was more than he had ever experienced in their short relationship. It was really heartbreaking.

"Thank you," Blaine whispered after a long time in comfortable silence. Blaine was now lying with his head on Kurt's chest, his arm across his stomach, stroking his hip in a hypnotising rhythm.

Kurt stroked his hair and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Don't mention it."

"You guys, I mean, the Warblers and everyone at Dalton—just. Look at my family. I don't have one. You're my family, all of you." Kurt tightened his grip on Blaine's shoulders, unable to answer him but knowing that this small gesture was answer enough for him. "Look at that," Blaine said with a chuckle after a while. "Who's wrapped around whose finger, now?"


End file.
